Somerville aims to impress Google with community video

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

The City of Somerville is pulling out all the stops in its courtship of Google, sending a homemade video to the company last week as part of its bid to become a pilot community for Google's new high-speed broadband network.

The video, narrated by the former “Voice of Somerville” Tom Champion, describes a “historic, sophisticated, and richly diverse” city with a penchant for new technology. Comic relief is provided by local celebrities Jimmy Tingle and Jimmy Del Ponte, who appears atop Prospect Hill dressed as “Lady Google.” At the close of the video, 100 Somerville high school athletes dressed head-to-toe in Google colors spell out the firm's name on Dilboy Field.


http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2010/04/somerville_aims_to_impress_goo.html

Comments

uncomfortable

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Communities all across the country are making similar attempts to woo Google. I like my Google as much as the next person but is anyone else uncomfortable with all this public sanctioned bowing / scraping to a corporate, for profit giant?

Re: uncomfortable

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

I'm less uncomfortable than I am with them doing the same thing for a sports team...

Re: uncomfortable

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

Bowing and scraping? It's not really any worse than favorable tax codes, zoning and other methods communities use to encourage businesses to locate in their area. And it's certainly no worse than any regular contest where people send in videos to win something, except now it's city governments and not individuals.

Re: uncomfortable

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

Its the big picture of what people are doing all over the country that I find troublesome. Like this example:

* Share On Multiply!

WASHINGTON – A city in Kansas seeking to be a test hub for a high-speed broadband network being built by Google has temporarily changed its name to... Google.

"Topeka Mayor William Bunten issued a proclamation declaring that, for the month of March, the Kansas capital would be known as "Google, Kansas -- the capital city of fiber optics."

The official city website, Topeka.org, welcomes visitors to "The City of Google" -- written in the large colorful letters the Internet search giant is known for -- and includes a link to the mayor's proclamation."

Re: uncomfortable

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

i dont see how this is qualitatively different from any other stupid thing many towns do or name themselves (oftentimes permanently).

Re: uncomfortable

[ron_newman]

An example: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Re: uncomfortable

[perich.livejournal.com]

Same here.

Re: uncomfortable

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Just because a company is for-profit doesn't mean they're inherently evil (to say nothing of Google specifically). If the contest is fun and creates a little community togetherness and a few conversations, I don't think it has to be a bad thing.